For the next four or five posts, you’re going to be in for a seafood treat. I believe each one of them is seafood oriented, except for one. That one is a really nice green bean salad. I hope you like mussels, salmon and cod.
The Recipe
Today’s recipe comes from Williams-Somona‘s cookbook called Seafood. It’s makes an incredibly good tasting mussels soup that’s infused with orange, coconut and brandy. Really, this soup is spectacular.
The way this dish is prepared will remind you of how to prepare regular steamed mussels. After softening the scallions, simmering the broth and cooking the mussels, the shells are removed and discarded. At that point, the fun begins and the recipe starts to look more like one for a traditional soup. Orange zest and juice is added to the liquid as well as brandy, coconut milk, salt and pepper. As I was cooking, I think I enjoyed smelling the combination of ingredients the most. There’s something about orange and brandy simmering on a stove top.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
4 Tablespoons Butter
2 Large Scallions, Sliced
1/2 Cup Dry White Wine
4 Cups Vegetable Broth
4 Pounds Mussels in Shells, Cleaned
1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Brandy
1 15-Ounce Can Coconut Milk
Zest and Juice From One Orange
Salt
Ground Black Pepper
4 Thinly Sliced Basil Leaves For Garnish
Step-by-Step Instructions
Even though the ingredients called for regular all-purpose flour, I went ahead and used coconut flour. That’s our preference these days. Also, if you wanted to, you could use heavy cream as opposed to the coconut milk. I believe the coconut milk is healthier, so we went with that.
Soften the Scallions
Add the butter to a large pot and place that pot over medium heat. Add the sliced scallions and cook for about 5 minutes. When the scallions have softened, add in the wine and let cook for another 2 minutes. Finally, add the vegetable broth, turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil.
Cook the Mussels
When the broth is boiling, add the mussels to the pot and lower the heat back to medium. Cover the pot and let cook for 5 minutes. At that point, all the mussels should have opened up.
With a large slotted spoon, remove the mussels from the pot and add them to a large bowl.
Add Flour & Remove Mussels
At this point, you should have a pot with liquid in it and a bowl with steamed mussels in it. From the pot, take a few cups of liquid and pour them into a medium sized bowl. Add the flour to that bowl and whisk it into the broth.
Once it’s all mixed, return what’s in the bowl to the pot and stir together with the remaining liquid. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat to a simmer and leave alone for 10 minutes to thicken.
Next, remove the mussel meat from the shells. Discard the shells and leave the meat in the large bowl.
Add Remaining Ingredients
After the broth in the pot has thickened, add in the orange zest, juice from the squeezed orange, brandy, coconut milk a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Add the meat back to the pot and mix everything together well and let cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.
Plate & Serve
With a ladle , divide the soup between 4 bowls and add 1 thinly sliced basil leaf to each as garnish. Then serve while hot.
The Final Soup
Really, it’s the orange and the brandy with this recipe. So good. The coconut doesn’t hurt either. It smells wonderful while it’s cooking and tastes even better. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply